The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews screenwriter Ronald Harwood about The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

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The year in Canadian magazines

Canadian Magazines is taking a brief holiday, back on January 2 with a whole new year of news, notes and comments on the industry. To wrap up this year, here's an almost completely arbitrary listing of some of the things that we posted about this year, with links to the actual stories.Best of the season to you and yours.Make a new year's resolution to send us a tip in 2008.JanuaryThe big dogs

Where names top 10 new Canadian restaurants

Visitor magazine chain Where has published its list of Canada's Top 10 new restaurants. Interestingly, three of the 10 are in Alberta and none of them are in Quebec. [UPDATE: Where apparently only names restaurants in areas where it circulates a magazine.] They areniche - VictoriaFuel Restaurant - VancouverThe Trough Dining Co. - Canmore, AlbertaBolero - CalgaryChop - EdmontonFresh Café -

Toronto Life's "little red books" discontinued

Toronto Life's "little red books", an innovation of outgoing editor John Macfarlane, are being discontinued. The content will be posted online and some of it will be incorporated into the ROP pages of the magazine, according to a story in mastheadonline (sub req'd).The so-called monthly "outsert" magazines, which were polybagged with subscribers' copies, were something that readers valued highly

Convergence selling? Fuggedaboutit

Scott Karp over at Publishing 2.0 challenges the whole concept of "convergence selling", where online jockeys with print for the time and attention of sales people. He says it is simply wrong: Now, as print publishers confront the reality that their center of gravity needs to shift to digital (let’s leave aside for a moment the critical question of how long it will take),the overwhelming evidence

Kayak grows up, from digest to comic book-size

Kayak, the children's history magazine from the publishers of The Beaver, is growing up. Starting with its January-February issue (#19) that should be landing in mailboxes in the next week or so, the digest is increasing to more of a "comic book" size 6-1/4” x 9-3/8.The publishers, Canada's National History Society, have always had a warm relationship with the Hudson's Bay Company (Hbc), which

Edmonton's Hub Cigar and Newsstand sold to employees

Western Canada's oldest independent newsstand (and, arguably, one of the best in Canada), Hub Cigar and Newsstand in the Strathcona district of Edmonton has been sold to three loyal employees who plan to sell even more magazines there.A story in the Edmonton Journal reports that owner Ken Knowles is retiring at the age of 75 after 44 years working there. The new owners are Steve Tsang, Don Kung

Canadians tend to trust traditional media more than online, study says

According to a new study commissioned by the Information Technology Association of Canada, readers in Canada tend to trust traditional media more even though their eyeballs are frequently and increasingly straying online. A report on the study appeared on IT Business.ca"The message is clear for marketers. Don't forget about TV, radio, newspapers and magazines when you consider advertising," said

Transcon might be interested in the right pieces of Quebecor World

Transcontinental Inc. might be interested in parts of troubled Quebecor World, but only if it fits with the company's "niche" strategy. CEO Luc Desjardins told The Canadian Press that the company is always interested in opportunity, but while it wants to continue to grow, it plans to focus on very specific niches that have proven successful. These include direct marketing, digital media and

Jewish Living named a most notable launch of 2007

Jewish Living, the startup run by former Toronto Life art director Carol Moskot and her husband, former ad agency exec Daniel Zimmerman, has been dubbed one of the most notable launches of 2007 by min, the media industry newsletter.Min is an deceptively plain little weekly publication that commands a premium price ($895/yr) and respect among leaders in magazine management for its inside view of

Vogue competes with its own in-house ad agency

Vogue magazine not only dominates fashion, now it is seriously vying to dominate fashion advertising with the success of its three-year-old in-house advertising agency, according to a story in Women's Wear Daily. Vogue Studio has already worked with 29 brands, including Valentino, Montblanc, Cartier and Lancôme, and is the agency of record for Via Spiga and Adrienne Vittadini.The in-house agency

Ad Age looks with favour on 10 great covers

Advertising Age magazine has published an entertaining look at great U.S. magazine covers of 2007, plus a look back at magazines that -- at least in print -- are no longer with us.

Wounded Quebecor World being circled by possible buyers

Speculation is rife that troubled printing giant Quebecor World, owned by Quebecor Inc., may be a takeover target, as its chief executive was shown the door yesterday and the company's share price plunged another 10% to $1.57 (it was more than $17 last February). According to a story in the Globe and Mail, quoting anonymous sources, U.S. printing giant R. R. Donnelly and takeover specialist funds

Wish magazine reader forum hacked by Turkish nationalists

[UPDATE: Wish has removed the forums altogether.]If you were to name a less likely place to promote radical, Turkish politics, it would be the forum of the fashion, home and lifestyle magazine Wish, published by St. Joseph Media. But a group of hackers have hijacked the forums of the Wish website with an ominous black page that says Hacked by Turkish Nationalist and Republican Group.While the

Slow pay or no pay; freelancers are seriously cheesed off at The Walrus

The Walrus magazine was, at one time, considered a godsend to freelance writers, with public promises of a huge premium over usual per-word fees. Some even intervened and wrote to Revenue Canada on the magazine's behalf when it was struggling to get charitable status.But the bloom is most definitely off the rose, as evidenced by a posting on the Toronto Freelance Editors and Writers list by

The Beaver publishes in both official languages for Quebec's 400th anniversary

The Beaver magazine, which a few scant years ago counted itself lucky to sell a few hundred newsstand copies, has gone from strength to strength in single copy sales, with the help of circulation specialist Scott Bullock.This is certainly true of the forthcoming issue in which, for the first time, the magazine is being published in both French and English editions to celebrate the 400th

Grace Is Gone Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer-director James C. Strouse about Grace Is Gone

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Trouble stirring at the Toronto Small Press Book Fair

The mags and books may be small but the controversy is certainly getting fierce surrounding the Toronto Small Press Book Fair. The fair featured a number of small magazine presses.According to Quillblog, one of the fair's exhibitors, Stuart Ross, who is also a co-founder of the fair, has made his displeasure with the fair's organization and organizers known on his blog and the organizers, Halli

Hearst : wholesalers asked us to remove U.S. cover price & keep higher Canadian

A major U.S. publisher is removing the U.S. pricing from their its covers and keeping the higher Canadian prices at the request of their Canadian wholesalers, according the a story in the Toronto Star. This confirms a posting here a month ago that some publishers were doing split runs to remove U.S. pricing and keeping the higher Canadian price.Hearst Magazines, which publishes such popular

Quebecor World's sale of European business falls through

Worse and worse. Giant multinational printer Quebecor World, controlled by Quebecor Inc., which is also is the largest magazine publisher in Quebec, saw its shares plunge more than 30 per cent on Thursday when it announced that its sale of its European printing business to a Dutch company had fallen through. Quebecor World shares dropped 79 cents to $1.47 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. A year ago

Transcon opts for bio-degradable plastic bag

One of Canada's largest printers and its largest consumer magazine publisher has announced that its Publi-Sac, which is used to distribute its community newspapers and flyers to the doorstep, has opted for a certified biodegradable plastic bag to deliver its materials in Quebec and eastern Ontario. It will begin using the bags in early 2008, according to a release.Doubtless the company hears the

389 new magazines launched in the U.S. in 2007

In 2007, 389 new magazines were launched in the U.S., according to online directory publisher MediaFinder.com. Regional magazines topped the list (42 new titles) with such titles as Miami, Edible Jersey and Garden & Gun, according to a press release. Luxury was the next largest category with 36 new magazines, cutting across many different subject classifications. There were 24 new business

Enter early, enter often: National Magazine Awards deadline looms

Submissions are now being received for the National Magazine Awards, with a deadline of January 9, 2008. The National Magazine Awards Foundation (NMAF) is searching for the best in Canadian magazine journalism for the 2007 National Magazine Awards. The Foundation will present Gold, Silver and Honourable Mention Awards in 39 categories at the 31st annual gala on June 6, 2008 in Toronto. The

Is Quebecor cooling to the printing business?

Andrew Willis of the Globe and Mail has an interesting posting on the Streetwise blog about Quebecor World, the massive printing arm of Quebecor Inc. Essentially, he is saying that recent actions of the parent company means it is leaving its printing subsidiary to twist in the wind. (See earlier post for background)The oldest adage in business journalism is, follow the money. Doing so at Quebecor

Transcontinental needs more time to restate earnings

According to a story carried by Reuters, Transcontinental Inc. needs a bit more time to release its latest financial statements while its auditors finish their work following a restatement of historical results. (Transcon announced last week it had found $20 million in accounting errors.) The new release date is Dec. 18. They were originally expected today.

Editor of CARP magazine resigns as Znaimer consolidates control

Bonnie Baker Cowan, the editor of CARP, the magazine for the Fifty-plus, has resigned. Cowan was at one time editor of Canadian Living. Her departure comes not entirely coincidentally with the ascendancy of Moses Znaimer at the organization. His acquisition of the magazine is a substantial part of Znaimer's plan to dominate the 50-plus demographic in Canada by building a media and services

Information about undeliverable magazines will now come electronically

Starting January 14, the old system of magazines receiving a bundle of covers and address blocks torn off undeliverable magazines will be going the way of the dodo. After consultation with the industry, Canada Post is instituting an electronic reporting system.Publications currently pay for the undeliverables service as part of their publications mail agreement. Now, though they'll have to

Best connections corrections of the year

'Tis the season for lists, and few are as entertaining as the Crunks, the listing of the best corrections of the year over at Craig Silverman's Regret The Error website.

It will be a blue, blue new year as Pantone picks the colour of 2008

Pantone Inc., which last year chose a "hot" red as the colour of the year for 2007, for the coming year has chosen a cool, deep blue called Blue Iris (Pantone 18-3943) as the colour for 2008. This is expected to show up in part in fashion, home decor and cosmetics, according to a story in Design Edge Canada magazine.Pantone cited the colour's calming and mystical qualities, combining blue and

Life after magazines is sweet; Wired co-founder invests in organic chocolate

Wired magazine co-founder Louis Rossetto has started a company making organic chocolate, according to a post on Boing-Boing. So there is life after magazines (particularly after starting, and making a killing on, one of the iconic magazines of the 1990s).

Worldwide magazine adspend projected to be $60 billion in 2009

Zenith Optimedia has released its projections for future advertising share worldwide and magazines are expected to increase modestly to about $61 billion in 2009, although this represents a marginal decline in the share of total advertising spending in all media.Adspend (%) for various media in 2009 is expected to be Newspapers 26.2,Magazines 12.1, Television 38.1, Radio 7.8, Cinema 0.5, Outoor

Martha Stewart kills startup Blueprint

It's worth remembering that even the big guys make mistakes, sometimes. Martha Stewart Omnimedia is folding its startup, Blueprint, rolling its print edition into Martha Stewart Weddings. According to a story in mediabistro, staffers were told that the company had "misjudged the market" for the "fresh, fun guide to personal style." The final issue will be January/February 2008.Bluelines, the

Insider trading, from inside a magazine printing plant

According to Reuters, a young worker at a printing plant in Wisconsin that produced Business Week magazine, apparently used his privileged previews of the weekly issues to indulge in insider trading that netted more than $6.7 million. Juan Renteria, 22, who worked at a Wisconsin printing plant, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and insider trading charges during a hearing before Magistrate Judge

Western Standard staff to try and make a go of it as an online publication

[This post has been updated.]Former staffers of the Western Standard magazine -- although not Publisher Ezra Levant -- are intent on making a go of publishing the magazine online. This was revealed in a e-letter from Levant who says he is "moving on to other projects" but wishes Matthew Johnston (one of the founders of the magazine and its associate publisher) and others well in their

Disticor Direct increases fuel surcharge for single copies by 20%

According to Magazines Canada, Disticor Direct, the distributor through whom Magazines Canada access Chapter/Indigo stores, has raised its fuel surcharge by 20%, to 12 cents from 10 cents per copy served. There was no advance warning; the increase was effective October 1 but MC is only finding out about it now. It has warned affected members that it cannot absorb the extra cost and will be

TV and web favoured sources for health information, says CTV poll

Only a small minority of Canadians get their health and science news information from magazines. Most get it from television and the Internet, according to a poll conducted for CTV by Angus Reid Strategies, with 36 per cent saying they prefer TV and 32 per cent saying they prefer the Web. The rest divided their loyalties between newspapers, magazine and radio. The survey also found that Canadians

Transcon to restate financials after finding $20 million in errors

Printer and media company Transcontinental Inc. is restating its financial statements for prior years to correct $20 million in accounting errors. The Canadian Press reported that the errors involved $10 million in accounting provisions for income tax liabilities in fiscal 2006 and $10 million in overstatement of the value of assets in the far-flung company's Mexican properties in several prior

Pay up, said Spacing blogger, and the Toronto Sun did

Magazine bloggers sticking up for themselves department:When the Toronto Sun recently appropriated the entire contents of a blog posting, plus the accompanying picture, from Spacing magazine's blog, the writer took a firm but unequivocal stance: pay me the standard rate for this. And you know what? They did.Blogger Sean Marshall wrote an item about and posted a picture of an old TTC subway car

Publishers need to cope with the plummeting value of distribution

Digital publishing is threatening traditional print publishing because it severs the link between content and distribution, according to an article by Scott Karp at Publishing 2.0. The value of distribution has changed radically, he says and the value of content and the value of distibution -- until now deeply intertwined -- are made separable by digital means.Print publishing won’t be dead until

Rogers pullout costs CBP 20% of membership revenue

The president of Canadian Business Press, Phil Boyd, says the impact of Rogers Publishing's departure from the Canadian Business Press is about 20% of membership revenue, not 40% as reported here in a recent post. He also says the amount represents a loss of just 9% of total CBP revenue.

Want chips with that? RFID transponders tested for magazine readership

Mediamark Research and Intelligence, a well-known U.S. magazine audience measurement firm is partnering with DJG Marketing's Waiting Room Subscription Services to put radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in magazines in waiting rooms to determine just how many customers actually read them, according to a story MediaDaily News. It marks the first external test of the small transponders. The

Quote, unquote: readers need to know what to pay for and how to do it

The digital revolution is no different from any of the other new, unprecedented so-called threats to hit us. Everything’s new the first time it happens. Of course it’s faster, bigger, slicker, more efficient and encompasses the globe in a way we’ve never seen before. That’s the way the world works. It’s called progress. But not everything changes. Most people won’t knowingly break the law and

Why are magazines such liars? Because it works

Readers, such as the ones who routinely mail back business reply cards and postage paid forms blank to "get even", often wonder why magazines insist on sending them. And the answer is invariably that blow-in cards and direct mail work, that's why.In a post on his blog, Wired magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson asks the question why magazine circulation departments are such liars. I love

Lush magazine acquired by digital signage company

Bassett Publishing, a newly formed division of a company whose principal business is in digital signage, has acquired Lush magazine (and says it plans to launch a second title this spring called Argyle aimed at "elite corporate executives.")The parent company, the Bassett Media Group specializes in out-of-home digital advertising and its group includes Impulse Media (40 screens in Rexall Pharama

CBP prez says trade publishing association should stay independent

[This post has been updated.]Canadian Business Press president Phil Boyd has told Masthead magazine (sub req'd) that he is firmly in favour of maintaining an independent trade publishing organization. This comes on the heels of Rogers Media Publishing withdrawing its membership in CBP and announcing that it was in talks with Magazines Canada about a possible alliance.Boyd said that the two

Best of B.C. newsstand promotion increased sales seven times

Single copy sales of participating British Columbia magazines increased by 13.9% during a special 6-month promotion organized by the Periodical Marketers of Canada in cooperation with the British Association of Magazine Publishers (BCAMP). (During the same period, magazine newsstand sales in BC generally went up 2.1%). About 30 magazines and 2,600 retailers participated.The pilot project was

Quebecor's TVA joins Magazines Canada

By signing up to membership 21 of the 45 French and English language titles from Quebecor Inc.'s consumer magazine division, TVA Publications Inc., Magazines Canada has consolidated its position as the dominant voice of the Canadian magazine industry.For too long, Quebecor's magazine division, the largest in Quebec, has not been at the table with the other players, big and small. And now, after

West coast magazine and TV cook James Barber dies

James Barber, the cook and raconteur who was a regular contributor to Western Living magazine and Vancouver magazine in the '80s and '90s, has died of natural causes at his home on Vancouver Island at the age of 84, according to CBC.ca.Although he was a magazine writer and author of a dozen cookbooks, he was perhaps best known as a chef on television and his program The Urban Peasant appeared on

Hard-won settlement for freelancers in U.S. thrown out by appeals court

The wheels of the courts grind exceeding slow and fine for freelancers; a decision by the U.S. federal appeals court late last week threw out an agreement reached in a class-action suit between publishers and freelance writers over payment for electronic reproduction of their work. This, according to a story in the New York Times.The agreement had been a way for publishers and writers to deal

Dine magazine thumps in with all advertorial flags flying

Last July we posted an item about plans for Dine, an annual restaurant guide that was being backed by Jay Mandarino of Toronto's CJ Graphics, and fronted by perennial foodie Sara Waxman who is publisher and editor-in-chief. At the time, we nervously quoted Mandarino extolling Dine's unabashedly advertorial mission. Well, little did we know.Dine dropped out of the Globe and Mail in Toronto last

Tax situation turned to advantage of publishers of The Beaver

Canada's National History Society, publishers of The Beaver and Kayak doesn't let any grass grow under its feet.When Canada's Competition Bureau approved the sale of BCE (Bell Canada Enterprises) to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, it realized that BCE shareholders would be required to dispose of their shares and pay capital gains tax, unless their shares were sheltered in a registered

99 North is closed by Canada Wide

Four years ago, Canada Wide Magazine and Communications Ltd. bought 99 North Visitor Magazine in Squamish, B. C. But because of lack of advertising support, according to Samatha Legge, Canada Wide's general manager, it will appear no longer. This, according to a story by Sylvie Paillard, published by the weekly newspaper the Squamish Chief .The publication was started in 1998 by then 19-year-old

Oilfield publishing merger inked as JuneWarren bought out by Glacier

Two major oil industry publishing groups are to be merged with the 100% purchase of the JuneWarren Publishing by GVIC Communications Corp. for an undisclosed combination of cash and shares.(GVIC used to be called Glacier International Ventures Corporation; it is a former bottled water company that transformed itself into an information and communications company and it became a major media player

Lions For Lambs Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan about Lions For Lambs

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Corporate Knights loses thousands of copies, forced to bonus subscribers

In what can only be characterized as something less than a catastrophe, something more than an annoyance, the magazine Corporate Knights has gone to extraordinary lengths to mollify readers because many copies of its fall issue mysteriously disappeared.The magazine has extended subscriptions by one issue and sent links to a digital edition to all its subscribers along with an apology. The

Governments shouldn't compete with magazines, says MagsCan

Magazines Canada says governments should not compete with the private sector in publishing magazines. This has always been Magazines Canada's position publicly, but now it is being released as a policy paper that the national association hopes will be adopted by various levels of government.The policy document springs from various situations where government-funded or -supported magazines

Folio: launches reader friendlier website

Folio:, the magazine for (U.S.) magazine management, has launched the beta version of a renovated website which is much easier to navigate.

Rogers b-to-b titles pull out of the Canadian Business Press

[NOTE: This story has been updated. See below.]Rogers Media Publishing is pulling out of the Canadian Business Press (CBP). With its membership will go about 40% of the CBP's budget. Of the 160 CBP member titles, Rogers publishes 36, in both French and English, including some of the largest.John Milne, Senior Vice-President, Rogers Business & Professional Group has sent a memorandum to his senior

Celebrating with all the little people

Let this be a lesson to all of us. The venerable magazine The Atlantic celebrated its 150th anniversary with a party held at the Kimmel Centre at New York University. The room had a stage which functioned as an "awkward VIP area", according to blogger Dylan Stableford, while most of the rest of the guests milled about below, drinking free booze and watching. Awkward. Worse, video is available

Seasonal guide to magazine gift guides

A staple of the magazine trade is the Christmas gift guide (though, in most magazines, it is now called the "holiday" gift guide) which is intended to whet consumer appetites about the latest swag available in the stores. The National Post has done us a favour by summarizing some of Canada's best magazine gift guides. Here is what it found:Priciest gifts on offer:Flare magazine: a grey lambskin

Strong loonie is a good news/bad news thing, Masthead reports

Masthead magazine has done some excellent reporting (sub req'd) in the past couple of days, talking to publishers across Canada about the up -- and down -- sides of the higher Canadian dollar.Part one looked at the downside and found that publishers aren't able to get the clients to adjust as fast as they'd like. Alex Papanou, vice-president of publishing at the Business Information Group,

Quote, unquote: on the flight to quality

I think we have a philosophy that, the Internet can do a lot of things really great, so focus your magazine on the things the Internet can't do really great—write long stories, print it on nice paper, have beautiful layouts. I think that a lot of other magazines are trying to make stories shorter and become adaptable to the web, and essentially make the magazine product something that dovetails

Quebecor's World of troubles continue

With Quebecor World suspending dividends on its preferred stock, the buzz around its financial troubles is becoming predictably more speculative and occasionally bizarre, with suggestions in a Reuters story that the value of the company's stock could conceivably plunge to zero;that Transcontinenental Inc., a major rival, would be a potential buyer of the book, directory and marketing businesses;

Richard Kelly - Southland Tales Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer-director Richard Kelly about Southland Tales

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Whole Foods Market, now more than expensive vegetables; also a magazine

Whole Foods Market, the high end organic grocery store, is planning, in partnership with Active Interest Media, to launch Whole Foods Market Magazine next year in the U.S. and Canada. Starting in January, the bimonthly custom magazine will be available in more than 60 stores, starting with the midwest and then the Rocky Mountain region. First printing will be 200,000 copies. It's expected to be a

The New York Ghost has a stealthy launch

An alternative non-paper paper has been launched, more or less by stealth, in New York. It is called the New York Ghost and is a pdf filled with rambling and apparently unrelated bits and pieces of information (ed: a newspaper, in other words). According to a story in the New York Times, it is published by Ed Park, an editor at the Believer and a former editor of the Village Voice. He apparently

Swapping pennies for dollars

New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman told a British House of Lords committee last week that new online business models for newspapers are just substituting "pennies for dollars".He said he is trying to develop new business models for the web but returns aren't comparable with print, according to a story in the UK Press Gazette.Zuckerman said that the new challenges have meant that his

What's a magazine worth? A little or a lot, depending on your perspective

For three generations, publishers and proprietors in the magazine industry have done themselves and the industry a serious injury by perpetuating the belief that readers won't pay what magazines are worth. So pervasive is the belief that the assumption is no longer even tested.The late Howard Gossage defined it as taking a bite of a poisoned apple, the day that publishers decided that the cost of

McSweeney's editor Eggers speaking in Toronto Tuesday night

The founder and editor of McSweeney's, the quarterly magabook which many of you have probably admired for its quirky charm and audacity, is speaking in Toronto on Tuesday, if you're in town. He is a guest of This is Not a Reading Series, presented by Pages Books & Magazines, Vintage Canada and EYE weekly.Eggers, the author of four books, and perhaps best known for his first, A Heartbreaking Work

I'm Not There Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer-director Todd Haynes about I'm Not There

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National Magazine Awards board approves substantial changes

Substantial changes to the National Magazine Awards has been unanimously approved by the board of the National Magazine Awards Foundation at its November meeting. The changes address concerns, both large and small, raised by editors, including those at the big publishers.A letter detailing the approved changes has gone out to the participating editors and the changes will be posted early in

Cigar Report lights up

For every subject, there is a magazine. And in some subject areas, hope springs eternal, despite past experience. Those who remember Cigar Aficianado and Milton, big ticket, lavish titles that celebrated (among other things) the joys of a big stogie, will wonder at the wellspring of hope that is being tapped by the launch of the rather blandly named Cigar Report.The title will have an initial

Not so funny. Stitches magazine closed

Stitches, a humour magazine for doctors and a companion title Stitches for Patients, were both quietly closed this summer by CLB Media, according to a story in mastheadonline (sub req'd). The reason given was that advertisers just weren't that interested.

Mainstream Observer profiles very-un-mainstream Geez

One of the most professional and well-regarded church publications in Canada, the United Church Observer, carries in its November issue a profile of one of its hipper, much more controversial younger brethren -- the Winnnipeg-based magazine Geez. The profile is not available online at the Observer, but fortunately you can see it on the Geez site.Writer Caley Moore writes about the magazine's

Deloitte media use research shows print mags beat online mags

Deloitte, the international accounting and consulting firm has published a study on media consumption called the State of the Media Democracy Survey. The research, of course, is based on interviews with U.S. residents. Earlier this week, Gary Gluckman, head of the Canadian Media and Entertainment practice, hosted a webinar. We are grateful that blogger Jon Arnold monitored the webinar and posted

A touch of glamour for Q & Q

Glamorous presentation is not the usual fare for Quill & Quire, the magazine for the book and library trade. But their December number has a very VF/GQ kind of look about it, with three Canlit stars featured in the special Books of the Year issue: Writer and actor Sean Dixon, million-seller Kenneth Oppel, and memoirist Marina Nemat. They scrub up nice.

Almanac sells out 100,000 copies

Harrowsmith Country Life's venture into publishing a Canadian almanac has been so successful that the first, 100,000 printing, has sold out and a second printing is being done for the Christmas market, according to a story in mastheadonline (sub req'd).See our earlier post on this.

Mags asked what -- if any -- changes they'd like in competition and investment policy

Should we be commenting and what should we be saying? That's the question that Magazines Canada is putting to its members; to advise it about the potentially far-ranging review that the federal government is conducting about foreign investment and competition policies.A bulletin has gone out to Magazines Canada's 350 consumer magazine member titles asking for comment by November 30 on some of

Immediacy online, depth in print: the inevitable future of b-to-b publishing

The power of web publishing is inexorably moving strong business to business print brands to reduce their print frequency and making up the difference with beefed-up news and opinion online. In magazine-related circles in Canada, Marketing did just this and so did the magazine industry trade magazine Masthead. Now, Adweek magazine in the U.S. has announced that it is reducing its weekly to 36

Quebecor World's troubles continue; refinancing plan withdrawn

What if you want to sell, but nobody wants to buy? This situation has apparently happened again to Quebecor World, the giant printing arm of Quebecor Inc. which is also Quebec's largest publisher of consumer magazines.According to a report by The Canadian Press, Quebecor World has withdrawn an ambitious refinancing plan (see earlier post) that it announced only a week ago, in which it had planned

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer-director Zach Helm about Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

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Adbusters' "Buy Nothing Day" going stronger after 15 years

Buy Nothing Day, an idea that was hatched by Adbusters magazine of Vancouver 15 years ago has grown over the years into an international movement. For instance, Ethical Consumer magazine in Britain is urging its readers to "detoxify from consumerism" by buying absolutely nothing on Saturday, November 24 (in North America, the day is being observed on Friday, November 23). The Adbusters' release

Mobile newsstand allows thumbnails of magazines to be browsed

If what you really want is to read a magazine on a teeny screen, then Zinio, the digital magazine providers, are your guys. They have launched the Mobile Newsstand with which you can browse, free of charge, some of their top titles (almost exclusively U.S.) on your iPhone and iPod Touch. (Of course that would require iPhone service to be widely available in Canada.)

Scouts and St. Joe's renew tree planting agreement

Scouts Canada and St. Joseph Communications, one of Canada's leading private printing and magazine publishing firms have renewed an agreement for tree-planting for a further five years.The collaboration, called Partners in Growth, first began in 1990 and, since then the Scouts, supported by the printing company, have planted over 2 million trees across Canada, covering 2,800 acres. For every ton

Taddle Creek to war against apostrophe abuse

The word idiosyncratic seems to have been designed especially for Taddle Creek magazine, the semi-annual literary journal published out of Toronto. And I mean that in a nice way.This unlikely magazine is celebrating its 10th anniversary by publishing a fat, colourful issue, launching a painstakingly redesigned website and (almost a requirement for small magazines) throwing a launch party. The

Canadians still prefer traditional media, but online is gaining

A new study by for APEX PR, done by Leger Marketing among 1,517 adults across Canada, has found that Canadians still prefer traditional media sources.The top five most credible information sources are: radio (67%), television (66%), national (66%) and regional (62%) newspapers and business magazines (52%)."Contrary to popular doom and gloom scenarios that speak about the impending demise of

Two competing magazines about depression to launch next year

Two, competing magazines about depression are scheduled to be launched in 2008.It has been announced by publisher Bill McPhee that Magpie Publishing Inc. of Fort Erie, Ontario will launch Anchor in 2008 (no date specified).The announcement about Anchor is that it will be coincident with the launch next year of a magazine called Esperanza, also serving the community of interest surrounding

Press Review for sale

If you want to own your own small magazine, Press Review is for sale for $15,000. The widow of the founding publisher Mike Cassidy is offering the magazine to "a visionary who would see the potential of this publication and keep her late husband's legacy alive".Press Review is described as "Canada's premier magazine specializing in media issues". It is distributed by controlled distribution to a

Google patents customization of magazine content

Information is making the rounds that Google has received a U.S. patent on a process that would allow end users to customize magazines and have content and relevant ads delivered over the web or printed out for them at convenient kiosks similar to photo processing kiosks in drugstores and department stores.The patent was granted to Google on November 8 and is entitled "Customization of Content

Cover story: how Metro will sell anything

Thanks to veteran freelancer David Hayes for his post on the Toronto freelance editors and writers listserv about the recent issue of Metro, the free commuter daily that is distributed in Toronto (and elsewhere). As Hayes says in his message to fellow freelancers: "Sell-outs don’t get much more blatant than this."In a world where everything seems to be for sale, a publication's integrity is

Free and online mags win big at British editors' awards

Sport, a free magazine given away to commuters won the British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME) award for launch of the year. And "innovation of the year" went to Dennis Publishing's online only Monkey magazine. This, according to a report in UK Press Gazette, which includes a full list of winners.

Cycle Canada said to have closed owners deny it is closing

[UPDATE -- According to Masthead magazine, the owners of Cycle Canada magazine deny the magazine has been closed or is about to suspend publication. The November/December issue is on newsstands, says LC Media, and a January issue is due to go on press.[While the magazine's website has been moribund since August, the magazine is apparently used receivership to get out from under some significant

Stuffy is out, says Reeves; that's why House & Garden folded

Lynda Reeves, the doyenne of the highly successful Canadian House & Home magazine says in an article for the Westcoast Homes section of the Vancouver Sun that the announced closure of the century-old House & Garden magazine in the U.S. reflects subsantially changing attitudes to home design and decor.When Condé Nast announced this week that House & Garden, the venerable magazine of American

Quebecor World stock down 41% in a week, facing refinancing challenge

Quebecor World, the printing core of Quebecor Inc., which is Quebec's largest consumer magazine publisher, has had a heckuva week, or a heckuva month to think of it.It announced it would sell a total of $778 million worth of additional shares and debt securities to investors and to its controlling shareholder, Quebecor Inc. , in a refinancing of its debt and credit facilities. On Tuesday it said

Quill & Quire provides free news clearinghouse on book pricing parity

Quill & Quire magazine, which serves the book trade and libraries, has launched a new, online resource to help publishers and retailers keep up with the complex and fast-moving news about price parity. For the past year and a half, as the loonie has climbed ever higher against the U.S. dollar, consumers have demanded that the disparity between Canadian and U.S. book prices be corrected. Retailers

The ad supplements that ate Toronto Life

Torontoist, a popular blog about all things Toronto, has had it with the baggage that comes with every issue of Toronto Life magazine. In a post today, Mark Lostracco says that while he thinks the subscription price is worth every penny, the magazine's heavy burden of advertising ride-alongs and inserts is too much.Subscription card "fly-ins" and heavy-stock ad inserts are extremely unpopular

Changes in Commons committee on Canadian Heritage

The makeup of the committee that oversees the Department of Canadian Heritage (home to the Canada Magazine Fund and the Publications Assistance Program, plus various other funding for the magazine industry) has changed with the new Parliament.For one thing, Charlie Angus, the outspoken New Democratic Party critic and member for Timmins - James Bay, is out, replaced by Bill Siksay from British

It's a guy thing; European men's magazines being eclipsed by web

Men's magazines are in a severe slump in Europe, according to a Reuters story out of an investors conference call on Tuesday. Leading European publishers are coming to terms with the fact that the web is an irresistible lure for men and teenage boys, at the expense of printed magazines. "They are a casualty of the Internet. That is for sure," Dominique D'Hinnin, Chief Financial Officer of French

Torstar takes the long view with transition at Metroland

The outcome of an orderly succession planning at the giant Metroland Group division of Torstar Inc. results in Ian Oliver, the publisher of the Hamilton Spectator and executive vice-president of Metroland Media Group stepping into the presidency, succeeding Murray Skinner. According to a company release, Skinner, who worked for Metroland and Torstar for 32 years, steps down effective July 1, 2008

Why don't journalists get residuals?

Albert Kim, a blogger with Huffington Post, raises an intriguing question, sparked by the U.S. writer's guild strike which is, as he points out, about payment for re-use and use in other media; residuals in other words. Why, he asks, don't writers for magazines get residuals?The premise behind residuals is simple enough. Writers create stories and turn them over to companies who use them to make

Access Copyright sues Staples for $10 million for copyright infringement

Staples / Business Depot, the largest office supply chain in Canada and the Canadian arm of a giant U.S. office supply super store chain Staples, is being sued by Access Copyright for $10 million for copyright infringement because of unauthorized -- uncompensated -- photocopying by store customers.A Canadian Press story about the suit was carried today by the Toronto Star. Access says it is the

Magazines Canada launches 18-month planning calendar

Magazines Canada has launched an 18-month planning calendar, which should prove useful to keep industry events from banging into each other and help organizers to avoid conflicts. It's a simple month-by-month grid in which Magazines Canada events are in red and other industry events are in blue, each event with a web link. People in the business who want events included should send their

Freelance union members number 400, says organizer

The Canadian Freelance Union drive may be coming to life, though the sign up so far is about 400, according to the key organizer. That's not much more than the union was claiming in February. During an exchange on the Toronto Freelance Editors and Writers (TFEW) listserv, Michael OReilly admits that he has been disappointed by the uptake.My greatest fear in all this is that the market is right;

If summoned, I will testify, says investigative writer Stevie Cameron

Author, former magazine editor (Elm Street) and magazine writer (Maclean's) Stevie Cameron says if journalists are called to testify during the forthcoming judicial inquiry into the Mulroney/Schreiber/Airbus situation, she expects to be at the top of the list, according to a story in the Montreal Gazette.No journalist has pursued the story more doggedly than veteran investigative reporter Cameron

Spafax Inc. wins six Pearl awards for custom publishing

Spafax Inc. of Montreal, publishers of enRoute magazine, has been awarded two gold and four bronze awards -- at the annual competition of the Custom Publishing Council in New York. Redwood Custom Communications won a silver and bronze as did Transcontinental Media and Rogers Publishing Limited won a silver.The 4th annual Pearl awards were presented to an audience of 140 custom publishing

Split run cover pricing being used to evade dollar parity for magazines

Ever since the loonie soared to parity and beyond, compared with the U.S. greenback, Canadian purchasers have been demanding at least dollar parity, and quite rightly.At first, retailers wound up eating the difference to keep customers sweet. Then, it seemed, publishers were grudgingly moving to get rid of the old "5.99 CAN, $4.99 US" cover prices. This would mean Canadian and U.S. purchasers of

Right on the money

One person's opinion: Mother Jones's November/December issue has a great cover.

Who needs writers anyway? We all do

Writer Barbara Ehrenreich speaks up for freelance writers in her column that was published on the Globe and Mail op-ed page today*.Ehrenreich points out that word rates for even top writers have been frozen for years and that the current screenwriter's strike may call attention to the plight of writers in general.Since I started in the freelancing business about 30 years ago, the per-word

Rupert Murdoch demolishes pay wall at Wall Street Journal

[This post has been updated.]The rolling boom you just heard was the sound of the pay wall at the Wall Street Journal being pushed over by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. He announced today to a group of shareholders in Australia that the online content of the Journal will henceforth (or very soon) be free.This follows close on the heels of the decision by the New York Times to end its Times Select

Seminar asks: "Can the public trust medical journals?"

Can the Public Trust Medical Journals? That's the central question at a seminar being held in Toronto by the relatively new online medical journal Open Medicine on Wednesday, November 21, from 6:30 to 7:30 at the George Ignatieff Theatre, 15 Devonshire Place, Trinity College, University of Toronto.The two presenters should provide interesting answers to the question: The main presenter will be

Canadian Marketing Association forecasts mag ad growth at 2.3% a year

The outlook for magazines is OK, according to a forecast published by the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA)and reported in mastheadonline (sub req'd). It forecasts that advertising expenditure in magazines will expand at a compound annual growth rate of 2.3 per cent over the next five years, going from $695.9-million in 2007 to $761.1-million in 2011.For b2b titles, the CMA expects compound

Universities howl as rankings drop because of revised Maclean's criteria

Maclean's just can't win. It is riding out a campaign by some of Canada's biggest universities to boycott its annual university rankings; they complain that the listings are junk methodology, even though they were based on questionnaires the universities had completed themselves.The boycott continues, but now universities who were not part of it are complaining that stripped-down criteria have

Playing well with others; be nice, be professional, show respect

The School of Journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto has issued a set of written guidelines for its students and for the university community. Chair Paul Knox distributed an online link to the guidelines that are apparently intended to address come conflicts and "misunderstandings" between students who are doing daily or longer term reporting assignments (print, radio and TV) and faculty and

Curate more and create less as a recipe for success

There's a interesting case study reported upon by Jeff Jarvis at Buzz Machine, about the way in which creating a true network is the key to success in being a content provider. There is a lesson in this for magazines that are playing to their content strengths and building complementary websites. A comparison is made between iVillage, which at one time was a dominant player among websites aimed

Marketing publisher unveils plans for 100th anniversary celebration in 2008

A sneak preview of the 100th anniversary celebrations of Marketing magazine is provided in a brief videotaped interview between Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Chris Loudon and Joseph Thornley of Thornley Fallis Public Relations. It was taped after a meeting of the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms (CCPRF) and is on the Thornley Fallis website.In January 2008, Marketing will begin a series

Let's explore the "day old bread" approach to selling single copies

Why don't we have "back issue" newsstands? Not everywhere, but in appropriate and selected places where readers can browse the previous issue or issues of magazines which have a relatively timeless quality?It wouldn't work for a current affairs magazine or other time-sensitive titles like city magazines, but aren't there shelter and design magazines, literary and cultural publications that,

(CP) symbol retired

The little symbol (CP) at the start of a published story had for many years symbolized a solid source of news, obtained from reliable sources. There were few better examples of a productive, cooperative idea. And if you said CP in the business, everybody knew exactly what you meant.A few weeks ago, it was announced that the CP symbol (and its French equivalent PC) is being "retired" in favour of

Toronto Small Press Book Fair

The Toronto Small Press Book Fair is being held today, Saturday 10th at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor Street West from 11 p.m. to 5 p.m. Dozens of small book and magazine exhibitors, including Descant, Taddle Creek, Public, Carousel, and Kiss Machine plus readings and other goodies. This twice annual event is becoming so popular that tables for exhibitors are now sold out.

The Canadian Fly Fisher is hard work, but founder loves it

"I thought it was just going to be fun, but it's tremendously hard work. I've never worked so hard in my life," says Chris Marshall, founder of the magazine The Canadian Fly Fisher.Canada's first national fly-fishing magazine has just won Belleville's business award for best service and professionalism for 2007, according to a story by Tara Wilkins in a student blog from Loyalist College. The

Armadillo anthology by students celebrated by Descant

Descant Arts & Letters Foundation (publishers of Descant magazine) runs a laudable literacy program called Now Hear This!, an outreach with the Toronto Catholic District School Board that sends professional writers into schools to conduct writing workshops with students.Between February and May 2007, over seven hundred students, ten writers and ten teachers took part in twelve weeks of innovative

PWAC asks its members not to violate the picket lines in U.S. writers' strike

The Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) is asking its 600-odd members to eschew taking on any writing assignments that could be construed as blacklegging in the current Writers Guild of America strike. The WGA established picket lines earlier this week at all major Hollywood studios and television production companies. The writers are striking for a new collective agreement

Joel and Ethan Coen - No Country For Old Men Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews co-writing and directing team Joel and Ethan Coen about No Country For Old Men

Not Currently Available

Moskot-designed Jewish Living to launch in New York next week

[This story has been updated.]The magazine launch that lost Toronto Life an art director happens next week as New York-based Jewish Living publishes its first issue. Carol Moskot, left TL to move with her husband, ex-ad agency executive Daniel Zimerman, to art direct the title. Zimmerman said it was going to be a “thoroughly modern magazine” that aims to “celebrate Jewish home, family and

Protest by women's group forces New York magazine to drop sex ads

New York magazine has dropped sex ads, bowing to a protest from the National Organization for Women (NOW) For its pains, it was criticized by the Village Voice alternative weekly for doing so.According to a story in Folio: magazine, the "escort" ads, which were part of the classified section in the back of the magazine, were essentially a front for prostitution and typically included phone

Ben Affleck - Gone Baby Gone Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews co-writer-director Ben Affleck about Gone Baby Gone

Not Currently Available

Millimetres matter at Saltscapes

Having proved it was here to stay, Saltscapes magazine of Dartmouth, N.S. has told its readers it is now a bit taller and a bit slimmer. In the publishers' column in the November/December issue just showing up in subscribers' mailboxes (not yet online), Linda and Jim Gourlay say: "Ours is an industry where millimetres matter.""The initial business plan for the launch of the magazine in 2000

Quebecor World beats a retreat from Europe

Quebecor World, the international printing arm of Quebecor Inc., which owns one of Canada's major magazine publishing operations (mostly in French) has admitted defeat and is retreating from the European printing market to concentrate on its North American printing business.According to various reports including one in the Globe and Mail, it has announced that it is selling 18 plants in seven

Size matters -- too much -- in U.S. postal rates, say smaller magazines

The impending restructuring of postal rates in the U.S. is predicted to have major, damaging effects on mid-size and smaller titles. A deal cooked up between Time Warner and some of the other big players with the United States Postal Service (USPS) , giving large-circulation titles a break for volume and doing most of the post office's sorting for them.Titles that, while big by Canadian

Retro whiskey ads to run in Canada, too

Those "Damn Right" ads for Canadian Club whiskey we wrote about recently are to run in Toronto Life, NOW and Eye Weekly as well as Canadian copies of Maxim, with placement in other key publications throughout 2008. It's part of a campaign headed"Damn Right Your Dad Drank It," featuring retro imagery from the 1960s and 70s, with provocative taglines that remind consumers that their dads were once

Quote, unquote: a magazine as a trivial pursuit

I'm sorry, but trolling for high IQ candidates in the pages of Mental Floss makes as much sense as looking for astronauts at a "Star Trek" convention.-- Douglas Quenqua, reviewing the magazine in MediaPost's Magazine Rack column.

Salon online magazine tops 4 million visitors a month

For those of you who wondered whether online magazines can work, Salon is a good -- if rare -- example. When it was launched back in 1995 (the internet equivalent of the Pleistocene age) it was hot and promising. Then people cooled to it as the internet bubble burst but, somehow, Salon carried on. It tinkered with its revenue model (free access, paid access, ad-free access and so on) but now

That little blue job box [promotional message]

That little blue box over on the right is a job board that's a real bargain. For $30 you can post a Canadian magazine job for 30 days. Simply click on New job offer and follow the instructions. All job listings are free to all readers. Remember that this blog is read avidly in all parts of Canada. If you'd like to know more, send an e-mail message to impresa(at)inforamp(dot)net.

Photosho magazine to increase frequency & start online version

The second issue of the photography magazine Photosho, published out of Ottawa, is now available and the quality of the publication has apparently caught the interest of Nikon Canada, which has a prominent ad in what is otherwise an ad-light issue.The new issue has the theme "Urban/Rural" and features both themed and individual portfolios of photographers. Rachel Morris, the owner and publisher

Two years on, how do you feel about Maclean's?

Next week will mark two years (!) since the new look and feel of Maclean's was launched. How do you like it so far? [Simply click on the word "comments" below and let us know.]

The New Quarterly celebrates a new look

The New Quarterly is launching a dramatic new look tonight in Kitchener with an event featuring the St. Catharines troupe Theatre Beyond Words (shown) which is featured in the new issue. (The performance takes place at the Registry Theatre, 122 Frederick Street; $20 for adults; $15 for students.)What started out more than 25 years ago as a hand-assembled, stapled compilation, funded by $1,000

Trove of Richard Taylor New Yorker cartoons donated to Canadian Archives

The Library and National Archives of Canada has received a trove of 1,400 drawings and original cartoons, texts and photographs including many colour covers from the family of Canadian-born New Yorker cartoonist Richard Denison Taylor. It's part of the large number of donations that the archives receive each year, reflecting the cultural and social history of the country, according to a recent

Burgeoning digital content leads to new ASME ad:edit guidelines

Eight U.S. National Magazine Award categories will be open to stories published online, it has been announced by the American Society of Magazine Editors. Concurrently, ASME is revising its guidelines on digital publishing in light of a doubling of digital magazine initiatives so far in 2007.Last year the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors (CSME) in collaboration with Magazines Canada, produced

Government appoints lawyer, former Transcontinental director to head CBC

The complicated relationship of the public and private sector in media became even more tangled on Monday with the announcement that Hubert Lacroix is to be president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.The Montreal lawyer -- a senior advisor to the law firm Stikeman Elliott -- was once a senior adviser to Telemedia Ventures Inc. after spending several years as

Condé Nast shutters House & Garden in surprise move

Now, here's a stunner. House & Garden is folding. The 106-year-old H & G, which once boldly bestrode the industry and which has a circulation of nearly a million, will cease publication after its December issue and lay off its staff, it was announced today by Charles H. Townsend, the president of Condé Nast. In an unusual move, the magazine's website is also being closed down. “House & Garden

Quote, unquote: Imitation is the sincerest form of Saturday

The Weekend is meant to be a bit more like a weekly magazine and a bit less like the sixth paper of the week. It's a more planned and edited paper. It relies more on major story treatments on the various section fronts. It is more visually-oriented. It's more heavily integrated with the weekend web package. It provides more news you can use as a way of emphasizing on the weekend sports,

Skunk magazine has a pitch (and a whiff) all its own

Skunk magazine is published out of Montreal and features detailed information on growing, refining and using marijuana, including various weird and wonderful appliances. Plus young women in various stages of undress, game and music reviews. It also has its own particular kind of sales pitch for an 8-issue subscription ($43 in Canada).Get your copy of SKUNK delivered straight to your door, no

Skinny, sleazy and stupid -- research shows young women hate the double standard

New research from Ekos, commissioned by Media Action (formerly Media Watch) says that young women hate the sterotypes and double standards they face in publications and other media. In conjunction with Media Education Week, Media Action published a release about women's views of prevailing media portrayals. The full research report and commentary from Media Action is available at the

Activism if necessary, but not necessarily activism

An object lesson for publishers who think that mixing new media and old ideas is easy:The Cleveland Plain Dealer hired four well-known local bloggers to collaborate on a blog for the paper's website. Then one liberal blogger was let go because he had contributed to a political party. And another liberal blogger quit in sympathy. And then the paper shut the blog down. (The details of the story are

Why "creative non-fiction" is a term whose time is over

It had never occurred to me before what the genesis was of the term "non-fiction" for everything that is not fiction, including magazine articles, essays and journalism. This was brought home by a thoughtful, somewhat mischevious essay "Tilting at Windmills for Literary Non-Fiction" by Ken McGoogan in the Globe and Mail Books section, published Saturday.This is an important topic for magazines to

Online service reads the long stories so you don't have to

If The Walrus and the Atlantic and Harper's and the New Yorker are piling up, guilt-making and unread, you may be interested in a service called Brijit that essentially reads them for you, boils long-form journalism down to 100-word capsules and publishes it online.While we don't normally plug commercial sites* for their own sakes, this one's motivation and rationale is interesting for what it

Canada Post creates virtual community; what a crock

We wonder what portion of its inevitable forthcoming increase in rates to deliver magazines will be required to cover the costs of Canada Post's loopy venture into Second Life. According to a story in Media in Canada:Canada Post has founded the virtual city of Maple Grove, an online community where this holiday season's online shoppers will be able to browse in the 3-D cyber stores of the

Smaller independent stores reeling from demand they sell mags for U.S. price

Small independent book and magazine stores are reeling from the news that Wal-Mart and Indigo Books and Music are chopping prices to the U.S. rate. According to a story in the Halifax Daily News, some stores say that demands by consumers may finish them off, since buyers don't realize small bookstores buy, as well as sell, at the Canadian price. Smaller margin independents can't take the

Spacing blog is named Best of Toronto

Toronto freebie NOW magazine's annual Best of Toronto issue has named Spacing magazine's Spacing Toronto as the best blog in the city.There are dozens of Toronto-centric blogs covering everything from cycling to fashion, but the one that stands on top of the heap is clearly Spacing Toronto (formerly Spacing Wire). Companion site to the beautiful Spacing magazine, the blog serves up daily content

Today's Parent gets the lead out

Today's Parent magazine's annual list of the best toys guarantees parents that they are 100% lead free. It's an interesting example of how a magazine maintains a critically high level of trust with its readers.According to a story in the Toronto Star, all toys in the Top Toys Guide were tested for lead content at McMaster University Occupational and Environmental Health Laboratory in Hamilton.

Giving a whole new meaning to the term 'news cycle'

Matthew Ingram, the Globe and Mail's technology writer and regular blogger on the subject, notes that the New York Times -- which always prided itself on producing most of its own content -- has converted to an "aggregator". Through the acquisition of BlogRunner.com, it acquired a system that allows its technology section to search out and republish related stories from around the world. There is

Magazine pitches "pay-what-you-want" subscriptions

Radiohead got a lot of press (and sold a lot of copies of its album "Rainbows") for its "pay what you want" campaign.Well, it wasn't long before some savvy magazine publisher would see an opportunity. Independent pop culture magazine Paste is giving readers the option of paying whatever they like for a subscription, according to an item on the entrepreneurial website springwise.For two weeks,

Wal-Mart bows to consumer demands, starts selling magazines at the lower, U.S. price

Bowing to consumer demand and reality, Wal-Mart Canada Corp. will be selling magazines in its stores at the U.S. price which, for the past little while has been the "lowest price" (a nod to Wal-Mart's slogan). The Canadian branch of the world's largest retailer said that, for example, a greeting card that cost $3.99 Canadian will cost $2.99, which is its U.S. price," said a story in the Sudbury

Flare internship candidates apply on video, with readers voting

Flare magazine has turned unpaid internships at its magazine website into a competition in which readers vote on video applications.The three-month internships (January to April) at the Rogers fashion title are unpaid and successful candidates have to pay their own expenses to live in Toronto. To be eligible they must be registered or recently graduated from an accredited college or university. "

Green Living will turn 10 and quarterly

Green Living magazine is celebrating its 10th year of publication with a major relaunch as a full-size, national quarterly as of Spring 2008. What began as the annual Enviroguide, which provided information about environmentally friendly goods and services, it went bi-annual in 2004, and in 2005, was redesigned and renamed Green Living to reflect an expanded editorial content. (shown is the Fall/

Andrew Coyne jumps from National Post to Maclean's

There has been a major defection from the National Post with the announcement that national affairs columnist Andrew Coyne is joining Maclean's magazine as National Editor in early November.Ken Whyte, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Maclean's, said: "We are delighted to have Andrew at Maclean's," says Whyte. "He's a great addition to our enviable roster of correspondents. He's a brilliant

Aileen who? The 6th Ontario culture minister in 7 years

More than half of Canada's magazines are published in Ontario, so who is the culture minister is an important issue. Would that the Ontario government saw it that way.In a recent post, we pointed out that there had been five culture ministers in Ontario in seven years (and five different names for the culture ministry.) Of those, perhaps only one -- David Tsbouchi -- had obvious chops to do the

Canadian Jewish News criticizes This Magazine article as "imbalanced"

The Canadian Jewish News has written a longish article that takes issue with This Magazine's cover story about Israel as an apartheid state. The cover shows an image of the Israeli flag and the headline "The New Apartheid".Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf, a staff reporter, gathered views from a number of sources about perceived shortcomings and "imbalance" in the various stories in the cover package. He

Regrets, we've had a few

Craig Silverman of Regret the Error, the website that reproduces the correction notices that magazines, books and newspapers publish, has gathered them together in a book Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech (Union Square Press/Penguin Canada).And the website for the book contains a page in which Silverman, punctilious as ever, publishes corrections of

Marketing magazine and CARD staffs merged

Rogers Media Inc. is merging the staffs of its Canadian Advertising Rates and Data (CARD) directory and Marketing magazine. There will be a full integration of the two brands, with primary focus on the linking of their websites and online services.Chris Loudon, the editor-in-chief of Marketing magazine, has been promoted to publisher and CARD publisher Bruce Richards will assume additional duties

New LIVElibrary program links authors, teachers and students

Author and Broken Pencil magazine founder Hal will this week be teaching a lesson called “DIY ZINES: Your Own Pop Culture Machine” as part of an unusual online program just underway for middle and junior high school students. (Nedzvieki's presentation this week was preceded by author Mark Shulman and media literacy activist and author Shari Graydon.)Annick Press and Skype Technologies, with two

Alexander Graham Bell's g-g grandson to revive American Heritage magazine

Last April, we reported that the venerable history magazine American Heritage was being suspended by Forbes Inc., its owners. Now, Edwin S. Grosvenor, the great-great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone and a founder of the National Geographic Society, has bought 75% of American Heritage and its affiliated Web site (americanheritage.com) and book division. According to a

Rue Morgue shivers its way into its second decade

Congratulations on 10 years of horror and entertainment to Rue Morgue magazine, started in the fall of 1997 by Rodrigo Gudino, who was bailing out of the frustrations of the music business (he had been music and reviews editor of the late RPM Weekly). No one can say Gudino isn't diligent in his study of "horror culture"; before he launched the magazine, he watched -- in order -- all 100 of the

Being noticed; being remembered; being released; being launched

As part of its Saturday package redesign, the Globe and Mail has started thumbnail reviews of magazines picked up off the newsstands by writer James Adams. On The Stand's inaugural reviews includes the October 22 issue of the New Yorker, one of Portfolio (both imports from Conde Nast) and (obligatory Canadian content) the fall issue of Geist. Paradoxically, of course, by the time Adams reviews

Rémi Marcoux, Transcontinental founder, named Member of Order of Canada

Rémi Marcoux, the founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of Transcontinental Inc., was made a Member of the Order of Canada on Friday at a ceremony presided over by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean, Governor General of Canada. Marcoux's company is not only dominant in printing, it controls the largest consumer magazine publishing operation in Canada.The citation from the

France Lefebvre resigns as editor-in-chief of Châtelaine after only 8 months

The editor of Châtelaine, the French counterpart to Chatelaine magazine, has left the job after only 8 months. France Lefebvre, left Transcontinental's coup de pouce (the French equivalent of Canadian Living) to be appointed editor-in-chief at the Rogers title just last February. She resigned recently, without any fanfare.This means that both the English and French versions of this flagship of

Maybe those free papers aren't such an easy sell

A story in the Georgia Straight points out that Metro International S.A., which is a partner in the Vancouver Metro Vancouver free commuter paper lost twice as much in its third quarter as it lost all of 2006.Metro International's US$18.2 million loss came on sales of US$91.5 million. This means that for every $5 in sales, the company posts a loss of almost $1. This has occurred despite Metro's

Canzine this year is a horror

Just in time for Hallowe'en, Canzine, the annual zine fair, is gearing up for a ghoulish good time in Toronto. It's Canada's largest annual Zine Fair and Festival of Alternative Culture, organized by Broken Pencil, the Magazine of Zine Culture and the Independent Arts. (Canzine East was held last weekend in Halilfax).Hotel Canzine is on Sunday, October 28, 2007, 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at The Gladstone

U.S. mag covers may need to change to suit new high speed sorting system

For those U.S. magazines who hate how the mailing label on their magazines clutters up their covers, worse may be coming. Magazine mailers in the U.S. have until December 10 to comment on -- and, many hope, to head off or modify -- some drastic changes in handling and delivery standards that the US Postal Service is proposing, according to a story in Folio: magazine.The changes would be set in

Harrowsmith Country Life launches companion "100% Canadian" almanac

Harrowsmith Country Life magazine has launched a companion, wholly Canadian, almanac.Now, almanacs (particularly published at this time of year) are nothing new. But usually they are American or repurposed American content. This one promises to be 100% Canadian, right down to the weather."Don't be fooled by the American Almanac that claims a "Canadian edition". Harrowsmith Country Life magazine

Where your $5.29 went: Canada Council annual report available online

The Canada Council for the Arts is looking ahead at its next 50 years and its annual report is now available online. The Shoestring Blog, published by Magazines Canada, gives a brief summary of the challenges, opportunities and underlying statistics extracted from the report, including the fact that the Council invested $5.29 per Canadian in the arts in 2006-07. The full annual report is

Shambala Sun turned away from immigrant mentorship program

It's enough to make you lose your serenity. An application by Shambala Sun, a well-respected magazine about Buddhism and the contemplative tradition, published in Halifax, was turned down by the federal government's immigration mentorship program.According to a story in the Halifax Daily News, despite the magazine's award-winning ways it was twice not selected for the work-experience program. The

Self-made heiresses

It was said by some wag that George Bush was born on third base and thought he'd hit a triple. I was reminded by the Hello! magazine top 10 list of North American heiresses. As hard as the magazine tries to justify this ("While they may have been born into a world of privilege, these ambitious ladies are building their own roads to success.") the preview of this selection of silver spooners (out

Utne Reader publishers start green shopping portal that buys carbon offsets

The publishers of Utne Reader, which has a strong following in Canada, is launching a shopping division whose hook is that it will remit half of its commission revenue from vendors to buy "carbon offsets". This is rather than "marking up" costs and diverting the difference to environmental causes.According to a story on the website Environmental Leader, Ogden Publications, publishers of Utne

CanGeo to publish 10 issues a year

Canadian Geographic will put 10 issues a year into subscribers hands, with the announcement that it is increasing in addition to publishing its CanGeo flagship magazine 6 times a year it is increasing the frequency of the companion Travel issues to quarterly. This, according to a story in Media in Canada.The new magazines may be being put out from a different location, however; as predicted, the

CalgaryInc. promotes from within

CalgaryInc. magazine has hired a new editor. According to a story in mastheadonline (sub req'd), RedPoint Media Inc. has promoted former managing editor Carol Harrington as editor-in-chief, replacing Christina Reynolds, who left the magazine in August.

Dad was cool and so was his highball

Although it is Canadian in name only, Fortune brands' Canadian Club rye whisky is getting its first advertising push in 20 years, built around the theme "Damn Right Your Dad Drank It".Some of that advertising may find its way into Canadian magazines though, for now, the campaign is running in Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News, with additional placements in Playboy, Men's

What should we do about Indigo deal? asks the Book & Periodical Council

The Book and Periodical Council (BPC) is asking its members what stance the organization should take (if any) on the issue of Indigo Books & Music taking over all sales of books and periodicals to school libraries, with the blessing of the Ontario Liberal government.As you know, during the Ontario Provincial election Premier Dalton McGuinty announced $120 million in additional new funding over

Does the magazine industry have a permanent "kick me" sign?

The newspaper industry absolutely hates it when people talk about it being in freefall and the daily newspaper being doomed. But a major Canadian paper, the Calgary Herald, part of the dominant Canadian chain, felt no compunction whatever about running a story that characterizes the whole magazine sector as a hopeless case. The headline on the story makes it appear that government funding --

How cool is that? Trend hunters look to Flare

Cool-hunting site Trendhunter Magazine has scooped up some shots from Flare magazine to illustrate what's cool for fall.These looks are a little wild, but don’t think by any means that dressing in technicolour is the only way to look haute this autumn. Even an outfit in blacks and neutral tones the second you add some vibrant bangles, a bold hued scarf, or a colourful, statement making handbag.

Canadian Freelance Union: a lamentably long time coming

It was more than two years ago (August 2005) that the first word of the launch of the Canadian Freelance Union was heard about, under the auspices of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, the country's largest media union with 25,000 members.Since then, there have been a series of information meetings and repeated promises that the founding, annual general meeting of the

Is Transcontinental plum job sour to the taste?

Is it taking an unusually long time to find a new boss at Transcontinental Media?Back in July, it was announced that Francine Tremblay, until that point the Senior Vice-President of Consumer Magazines responsible for all English and French consumer titles, would be focussing on the Quebec Consumer Group effective November 1. A wholly new position, Senior Vice President and General Manager,

Young writer despairs of the tyranny of CanLit

[This post has been updated]It's a bit off topic but there's a remarkable personal essay in Saturday's Toronto Star by a young writer who is mad as hell. The reason? Stephen Marche is 31 and he maintains that the CanLit environment in Canada is heavily biased in favour of "boomer self-congratulation".Marche spent a couple of years in Brooklyn, where he said the writing community was youthful, or

Bob Sexton of Outdoor Canada new CSME president

The Canadian Society of Magazine Editors (CSME) has elected Bob Sexton, associate editor at Outdoor Canada, as its president, according to a report in mastheadonline (sub req'd).Sexton replaces Douglas Thompson, editor in chief at Canadian Home Workshop, who served as CSME president for three years. Thompson, currently studying for his MBA at the Odette School of Business at the University of

Puncturing the Afghan survey balloon

Maisonneuve magazine's daily news roundup, Media Scout, provides a smile this morning with its headline: AFGHANS LIKE US, THEY REALLY LIKE USThe post by regular contributor Jordan Himmelfarb points out that all the gushing prose of the main media these days (what Media Scout calls the Big Seven newpapers and networks) might give Prime Minister Stephen Harper "a big head". (We thought he already

Cottage Life cleans up at IRMA awards

Cottage Life magazine was named Magazine of the Year and won 12 other awards at the International Regional Magazine Association (IRMA) conference last week in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma. (That's the magazine's current issue at right.)It received seven gold and two bronze medals as well as two awards of merit. It was picked as Magazine of the Year (over 40,000 circulation).IRMA is an association of state

Transcontinental Inc. pledges to promote "environmentally preferable" paper

It's too early to say if this is a tipping point, but the announcement yesterday by Transcontinental Inc., Canada's largest commercial printer, that it would champion "environmentally preferable" papers may be the breakthrough that the green paper movement has been working for. It is the first major North American printer to do so.The company, which is also the largest publisher of consumer

Happy Media Democracy Day

Today is Media Democracy Day and the day actually stretches over the next week across Canada. In Montreal the 19-21st, there's a conference with keynote address on Friday by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, in Vancouver on the 26th, there's a Media Democracy Fair and film screenings, in Toronto today, there's a screening of short documentaries and a panel discussion on Burma at the Brunswick

Momentum building towards green paper

Magazines in the U.S. are being slow to convert to recycled paper, but momentum is building. Cost, misconceptions and general ignorance are among the reasons given in an item in Folio: magazine's online site. [see earlier posts about ancient forest friendly paper.]There are about 100 magazines currently printing on recycled paper, says Frank Locantore, director of the Magazine Paper Project for

Protégez-Vous beats back injunction application by toymaker

Les Éditions Protégez-Vous, publishers of the consumer magazine Protégez-Vous, successfully defended itself against an injunction application by Montreal-based toymaker Mega Brands Inc.[UPDATE: A story in the New York Times quotes David Clerk, the magazine’s publisher and the executive director of Les Editions Protégez-Vous saying: "“This is a loophole. Why is it that in 2007 we are still finding

Geist and The Tyee team up on postcard story contest

Small is indeed beautiful, at least when it comes to the Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest, self-described as "the writing contest whose name is almost as long as the entries!"The 4th annual contest, co-sponsored by The Tyee, is underway now, with a deadline of December 1 to write a fiction or non-fiction story of no more than 500 words. Details on how to enter can be found here.The

Your name and rep here; Graphic Arts hyper-customizes its covers

Graphic Arts magazine, a Newmarket-based business-to-business title has published an October issue in which all three covers are customized to the customer receiving them, according to a story in Media in Canada. The project was carried out for Fujifilm Canada and, in the process, the magazine produced more than 428,000 variations on its covers.Graphic Arts is published 10 times a year and has a

What, is it that time already? Merry, er, Holiday

I know you may not even have bought the Hallowe'en candy yet (OK, smarty, you did) but it's that time of year again.The November issues of the big shelter magazines are already celebrating the seasonal event that may not speak its name, using their covers to pump up "holiday" cheer.

PWAC fighting back against contractual rights grab

The people lowest on the compensation ladder of this business are being asked to choose between being paid at all and being paid fairly, according to the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC). The organization, which represents more than 600 individuals across Canada, is urging freelance writers not to sign contracts that take away their rights to their own work without compensation.

The rich are not like you and me; they use more media

The top magazine reads in terms of average issue audience among the affluent and business elites in the U.S. is not, surprisingly, financial magazines, golf journals, or high-end luxury magazines: but People magazine, followed by House & Garden, National Geographic, and Sports Illustrated. And the affluent consume not only consume more print than the average citizen, but huge amounts of all sort

Quote, unquote: Newsweek on pieces that repay the effort of reading

We have two pieces of news close to home: a redesign of the magazine and of Newsweek.com. Our renovations come at an interesting time for journalism. As the number of news outlets expands, it is said, attention spans shrink; only the fast and the pithy will survive. Some people in our business believe print should emulate the Internet, filling pages with short, Weblike bites of information.We

The Tyee offering fellowships to promote B.C. investigative reporting

The Tyee, the excellent online newspaper published in Vancouver, has announced a proposal call for $5,000 fellowships for independent journalists who want to do investigative or "solutions reporting" on important issues in British Columbia.Entries are due Dec. 15, 2007 and will be judged by an independent advisory board who will share only the winning entries with Tyee editors. Winners will be

Quote, unquote: why we don't need any more literary magazines

It’s time to stop the presses. I know it’s not easy to pull that plug. Litmags are icons of intellectual privilege. You have to fight against a lifetime of programming that’s telling you literary magazines are good, therefore more literary magazines must be better. You respond out of habit, and assume it’s good news, like when a baby is born. It’s not. Magazines aren’t babies. In the world we

National Post notices small business

The Financial Post section of the National Post has swung its gaze around to small and medium-sized businesses and is now focussing on them in its Monday paper. Former magazine publisher and editor Rick Spence (Profit and U of T magazine) is now writing a weekly column and linking his entrepreneurial blog on the National Post website. A number of other features are being launched in the Monday

Kim Pittaway speaks to Ed2010 event

The Toronto chapter of Ed2010, a group dedicated to helping young editors find their dream jobs, is hosting the first event in a speakers series on Tuesday, October 16th at 6:30 p.m. in Room 224b/c, Northern District Library, 40 Orchard View Blvd.,near Yonge and Eglinton.The speaker is Kim Pittaway, writer, industry consultant, president of the National Magazine Awards and former editor of

Five culture ministers in Ontario in 7 years

With the defeat* of Caroline Di Cocco in Wednesday's Ontario election, the Culture Ministry is again without a minister. She was the 5th culture minister in 7 years! Many of them have had their training wheels on; for most, it was a way-station in their ambition for higher office.If you wanted an indication of the relative low-level concern that Queen's Park places on the culture file you need

The Kingdom Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan about The Kingdom

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Good Luck Chuck Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews screenwriter Josh Stolberg about Good Luck Chuck

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Robert Benton - Feast of Love Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews director Robert Benton about Feast Of Love

Not Currently Available

The Jane Austen Book Club Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer-director Robin Swicord about The Jane Austen Book Club

Not Currently Available

Quebecor Media jumps into directory business in a big way

Quebecor Media, the publishing division of media and printing giant Quebecor Corp., is taking the plunge into the estimated $1.4 billion print and online directory market. It is starting a new Montreal-based subsidiary, Quebecor MediaPages that it expects to expand quickly to have 100 employees over the next year or so. The company told the Canadian Press that it will start off with 30 new print

Modern Dog gets glowing notice

Modern Dog, the Vancouver-based magazine, gets favourable notice south of the border in MediaPost's regular (hard to please) Magazine Rack feature. Tanya Irwin, who writes the review, says:I can honestly say that every single article is well-written and interesting. Reader-content is kept to a minimum, with the exception of the page at the back wasted on dog horoscopes.She cavils a little about

It gives a whole new meaning to words and pictures

Perhaps it is creeping Canadian reticence that has infected The New Republic since that magazine was taken over by the CanWest Asper family. But editor Frank Foer killed a commissioned illustration for an article on swear words in this week's issue, according to a story in SF Weekly. Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker had written an article on curse words titled "What the F***?",

Shed-a-tear-for-the-hyphen

The New York Times reports the impending death of the hyphen, with word that 16,000 hyphens have been eliminated from the latest edition of the Shorter Oxford English dictionary.The dictionary is not dropping all hyphens. The ones in certain compounds remain (“well-being,” for example), as do those indicating a word break at the right-hand margin — the use for which this versatile little

It's not plastic, it's Plastique

The Toronto Star runs a feature on ex Oakville native Brylie Fowler who has launched international fashion glossy Plastique in London. "A fragile fashionista she is not" says Star stylist Derrick Chetty.He notes that this is but one other Canadian who is cutting a swath in publishing, citing Tyler Brulé 's Monocle and rocker Bryan Adams with the Berlin-based Zoo."London was missing something.

Feeling nervous, are we? Canadian Lawyer tries to squelch upstart competitor

CLB Media's Canadian Lawyer magazine has apparently rushed together a "preview edition" of a new magazine for associate (read: young) lawyers, timed to come out concurrently with the launch of Precedent, a new magazine aimed at...young lawyers. This, according to a post on the new magazine's blog. (That's the cover of the Precedent's launch issue, debuting October 19). [See our earlier post.]"To

Masthead is looking for the 20 most influential Canadian magazines

Masthead magazine (sub req'd) is celebrating its 20th anniversary by assembling a list of the 20 most influential Canadian magazines of all time. An online forum is available* until Dec. 1, at which point an editorial panel "swayed by" the forum discussion will make the final choices. The list will be published in the Jan/Feb 2008 print edition of Masthead. Influence will

Can Geo makes clean sweep of its circ department

Canadian Geographic has lost the last of its original circulation department staff and has had to bring in "emergency" consultants to keep it running. Erin Rogers-Lay, the Acting Director of Consumer Marketing has left the company. In August, Francine Morris, the Membership Marketing Manager, left. Maureen Murphy, the Vice-President of Consumer Marketing and Operations left in June and Ian

Balancing your inner and your outer readers

Bruce Headlam, who worked once at Saturday Night and Canadian Business, is now the media and marketing editor for the New York Times and in charge of Business Day, the Monday special section of the Times. (If you want to ask him some questions -- maybe about the good old days -- you can do so Oct. 9-12. Send your questions to askthetimes@nytimes.com.)Before joining the business section, Headlam

Toronto Star dumps P.M. mini-paper

As hard as the Toronto Star's spinmeisters try, it was difficult to see the ending today of Star P.M., the free pdf mini-paper, as anything but an admission of defeat. A little over a year ago, the 8-to-12-page downloadable formatted version of the paper was unveiled with some fanfare. TodayNext Wednesday will be its last. A message to subscribers from J. Fred Kuntz, the publisher, tried to make

Fashion magazine fetes models to celebrate 30th

Fashion magazine is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a 300-page issue that, among other things, salutes Canadian models, three of whom -- Julia Dunstall, Heather Marks and Meghan Collison grace the cover."When we started to plan this anniversary issue and discuss what really stays with people when it comes to fashion, we kept coming back to the models. Those beautiful creatures who bring

Google's valuation: is this the new reality?

That whooshing you heard was the cold chill running down the necks of traditional publishers, as Google's stock market value surpassed that of the Big 3 traditional media companies. A story in MediaDaily News says:If there were any doubts that we were back into a new, digital media economy, they were laid to rest Monday when the price of Google's shares topped $600 for the first time, giving it a

I cut down trees, I love my job...

From the other end of the magazine supply chain comes news that the guys who cut down the trees love their jobs.Canadian Forest Industries magazine is a trade title that serves the logging industry coast to coast and its website gives an advanced peek at a survey of loggers that will be published in its Nov/Dec issue.1,500 loggers were questioned by PREfoRT, an industry consortium of forest

Bad breaks and help when it's needed

A friend, David Hayes, is one of the country's top freelance writers. He was "doored" in July while on his bicycle in Toronto (at right is what his bike looked like after the collision.)Extensive injuries to his arms, elbows and wrists essentially mean that, even now, he has great difficulty practicing his craft -- take notes, type etc. For a freelancer such a situation is a major financial

Nominations sought for Best Student Writer

The National Magazine Awards have issued a call for nominations for the Best Student Writer award. Nominations are due January 11 (at about the same time as magawards entries). The award, for a published non-fiction piece in a Canadian consumer or university magazine in 2007, carries with it a cash prize of $1,000 and tickets to the National Magazine Awards gala. Further information may be had at

US News going big on rankings of things like cars and trucks and consumer goods

U.S. News and World Report, which pioneered university rankings (America's Best Colleges) on which the well-known Maclean's university rankings were originally modelled, have gone on to rank other aspects of American's lives -- health, hospitals, graduate schools, health plans, leaders. This doesn't make the magazine unique because many other titles, particularly business titles, thrive on the

Western Standard folds its print edition

The Western Standard magazine is ending its print edition. The announcement was made late on Friday by Ezra Levant, the Publisher. The newsmagazine, which was the inheritor of the mantle of Ted Byfield's late, unabashedly right-wing Alberta Report magazine, will continue online for now, or at least the magazine's popular Shotgun Blog. The Western Standard had a decidedly conservative cast and a

In search of more write-arounds; how magazines can stop being "access" junkies

Magazines are in danger of cashiering their integrity in return for access to celebrities, access that results in vapid, uniformative, misleading and repetitive stories, says Ron Rosenbaum in an article for Slate.Rosenbaum is particularly ticked off by the recent incident in which an investigative piece about Hillary Clinton's campaign for president in GQ was killed in order to preserve access

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) said to have the best standard for green paper

Sometimes you can't see the forest for the acronyms and publishers who are considering doing the right thing when it comes to paper can become confused by the conflicting claims of the various certification bodies out there: FSC, CSA, PEFC, SFI.Some clarity may be forthcoming (though there will be disagreement between the contending standards), with new research conducted by ÉEM Inc., a

Careers group wants to know what professional development artists need

The Cultural Careers Council of Ontario (CCCO) -- also known as WorkinCulture -- wants to determine the professional development needs of professional artists in the province -- a category in which they include freelancers such as editors, writers, illustrators and photographers. They have commissioned Ipsos Reid to administer a confidential online questionnaire , which takes about 10 minutes so

The contentious struggle to impose scan-based trading

It's sometimes entertaining to see the big guys duke it out, but not when the implications are so major for magazine publishers large and small, in the U.S. and in Canada. I'm referring to the nasty fight between Time Warner, publishers of such heavyweight newsstand titles as Time and Fortune, and Anderson News, the largest U.S. single copy distributor. A story in MediaDaily News suggests that

Canadian Business launches new look mag and website

This week, Canadian Business magazine publishes its special "Canada in 2020" issue with a visual makeover for both the magazine and canadianbusiness.com.The website design remains incredibly busy and cluttered, which has almost been a hallmark for CB; there is a new panel added with tabs for analysis, blogs, video and so on and navigation may prove a little easier.This is apparently the first

Precedent, a stylish mag for young lawyers, launches October 19

A new magazine aimed at young lawyers will launch in Ontario on October 19. Precedent: the new rules of law and style has been a couple of years in gestation and, for more than a year has been represented by a stylish and feisty blog called lawandstyle.ca. The intention of Editor and Publisher Melissa Kluger was always that the website would be a shakedown cruise for a print magazine."We’re

Malahat Review at 40 celebrates legacy of founder Robin Skelton

The Malahat Review next week is celebrating its 40th year as one of Canada's leading literary publications. There will be a series of events at the University of Victoria including a launch party for the issue, a talk by writer Robert Bringhurst, readings by seven celebrated BC poets, and a puppet, spoken-word, and video extravaganza. For details visit www.malahatreview.ca. The celebration will

Web Weekend for magazines to focus on digital strategies

Magazines Canada, in partnership with Centennial College, is holding the first Web Weekend on November 24 and 25 at the Centre for Creative Communications at 951 Carlaw Avenue in Toronto. It's the first of what MagsCan plans to be similar sessions in cities across Canada, a combination of seminars and lab work designed to help magazine managers increase online revenue, integrate print and online

Irish mags offered by Dublin-based digital service

An Irish newsagent is hoping to sell magazines online the way iTunes sells music. Mymagonline.com, based in Dublin, will be offering readers PDF versions of Irish publications at a typical 40% discount off cover price. Current titles include Irish Garden, PC Live and Car Buyers Guide."The service does for magazine publishing what iTunes has done for music, delivering magazines to readers in

Playboy cutting circ, putting emphasis on free online content

Faced with a "revolution", Playboy magazine is cutting its print circulation by 13% while trying new strategies to attract an online audience who wants free content, says a story in Advertising Age.Instead of obsessing over retaining print readers and trying to sell content online, as in the past, Playboy's brand managers will now try to expand its reach wherever that may be.Paid circulation is

INDAS Limited rebranded as CDS Global

INDAS Limited, Canada's largest fulfillment house, is getting a new name and image as part of a global rebranding by its U.S.-based parent company which is itself owned by publishing giant Hearst Corporation. Indas will now be called CDS Global.A press release says all divisions of CDS – INDAS Limited, Canada; Tower Publishing, England/Australia; and CDS, United States – will now be united under

Quebec anniversary to be celebrated in special two-language edition of The Beaver

The Beaver magazine, published by Canada's National History Society, is going to publish a 96-page, special issue (at right is a mockup) next year to celebrate the landing of Samuel de Champlain and Quebec's 400th anniversary. And there are plans to also publish the entire issue in French, the first time The Beaver has been introduced to a francophone audience."The special issue will be co-edited

U.S. mag industry wins battle to retain direct-to-consumer drug advertising

The U.S. magazine industry, in coalition with other advertising-driven media, has decisively beaten back an attempt by the U.S. Congress to restrict direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising.It means that pharamaceutical companies are free to place DTC ads in what represented $1.6 billion in ad revenue for the U.S. magazines last year.According to a statement from the Magazine Publishers of

Then there was one; Financial Times to drop its "pay wall"

There were the Big 3 "pay wall" papers and now there is just one, and it's thinking about demolishing it. The Wall Street Journal may well drop its requirement for a paid sub to read its material online, once the deal closes for Rupert Murdoch to take it over. The Financial Times of London, one of the very first papers to create such a system, announced yesterday that it was doing away with it

Well, it could happen...

And now a bit of fun. Graphic-designer-turned-artist Scott King, for a show in New York, imagined a series of complete makeovers for Vogue magazine. An ad-free issue. An "angry" issue. And an issue with an an anti-war theme. He decided it should also be free…Here, courtesy of CRblog, are some of the results. (King was, at one time art director of i-D magazine and went on to become Creative

Dampness at WOTS, BCAMP, Walrus

Word On the Street in Vancouver was heavily rained on for the first time in its history yesterday, and it was cold and windy and you had to keep jumping up and down to stay warm. The crowd was thin and hardy; indeed, heartiness was evident everywhere. CUPE picketers sang and led revolutionary chants. It was impossible to stand still long enough to grill members of BCAMP in a search for answers to

Rogers to sell ads for Hearst Magazines' digital properties

Rogers Media has become the exclusive sales agent for Hearst Magazines' digital properties in Canada, it was announced today. Rogers will represent cosmopolitan.com, marieclaire.com, cosmogirl.com, goodhousekeeping.com, redbookmag.com, seventeen.com, ecrush.com, espinthebottle.com, teenmag.com, kaboodle.com, quickandsimple.com, mypromshopper.com, myholidayshopper.com, mybacktoschoolshopper.com

Neo-opsis sci-fi magazine nominated for a "people's choice" Aurora award

Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine is nominated for an Aurora, in the category "Best Work In English: Other." These "people's choice" award for Canadian fantasy and science fiction will be made during the twenty-seventh annual award ceremony will take place at VCon 32, a science fiction conference in Vancouver, BC, on Saturday October 20th. In addition to an award for the magazine's 8th, 9th and

Policy Options spreads the views: Canadians like free trade

Later this week, Policy Options magazine will be publishing a special issue that marks the 20th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Not surprisingly, the Montreal-based magazine and the conservative think tank that commissioned the poll (from SES Research) released it to the media to get some buzz about the issue. And, again not surprisingly, the poll is getting good play

More magazine launch said a good example of focussing on boomers

More magazine in Canada, the franchise title for women over 40, published by Transcontinental Media in partnership with Meredith Corporation, was given as a standout example of the power of marketing to baby boomers in an article in the Saturday Financial Post section of the National Post.Lina Ko, a partner in National Public Relations and its aptly named Baby Boomer Marketing Division says: "I

Toronto zine library now has a takeout option

An unsual collection of zines in Toronto is now set up as a regular circulating library. According to a story on Torontoist, The Toronto Zine Library tucked away in the rehearsal hall of The Tranzac, has more than 1,000 zines (and counting, donations are encouraged).These range from from semi-popular stuff like Montreal's Fish Piss to more obscure personal zines about, like, octopuses. Or

UK children's title Anorak to come into Canada

The Canadian children's magazine market gets a little more competitive with the expansion into Canada of an independent British magazine called Anorak. According to a story in Media Guardian, Anorak bills itself as "the happy mag for kids", has signed an international export deal to be available in 22 countries, including Canada, Ireland, France, Spain, Morocco, Australia, the US, Hong Kong and

Why Esquire editor is still editing a magazine

Well, that's one reason for redesign and innovation. Or three. As reported in Folio: online, David Granger, the editor of Esquire, told a magazine crowd in New York that he started to make major changes in the magazine because of a personal watershed.Esquire editor David Granger loves magazines. But he doesn’t always love them. “F*ck, I’m still editing a magazine,” Granger told the crowd at New

Wallpaper* goes monthly

Wallpaper*, the international magazine launched in 1996 by Canadian expat Tyler Brulé , bought by Time Inc. and now published by giant conglomerate IPC, is increasing its frequency to 12 issues a year.According to a story in Media Guardian , the magazine has been riding the crest of an advertising boom (up 42% from January to September, compared with the same period a year ago) and now

USA Hockey to be sold on Canadian newsstands

Colorado-based USA Hockey Magazine is to be available on Canadian newsstands starting in October. It claims to be the world's most widely circulated hockey publication, with an audited 418,000. (Transcon's The Hockey News, which has an audited paid circulation in North America of 89,000, claims an average 225,000 readership for each of its 41 annual issues.)USA Hockey Magazine has been around

Redwood launches custom pub Zoom-Zoom for Mazda

Redwood Custom Communications has partnered with Mazda on a global customer magazine called Zoom-Zoom (named after the tagline of the ubiquitous Mazda television ads).Its first issue launched this week in five languages and in eight countries — Canada, the UK, U.S., Germany Spain, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Global circulation is more than 1.5 million, including 327,000 copies in Canada.

Fashion magazine celebrates 30 in style

Fashion magazine is turning 30 and is making a party of it. The St. Joseph title has created a special part of its website to a look back at 30 years of covers and to reminiscences by former editor John MacKay, photographer George Whiteside and fashion writers David Livingston and Susie Sheffman.The magazine, now edited by Ceri Marsh, started as a line extension of Toronto Life and gradually took

BCAMP demurs

Silence continues to emanate from the tiny headquarters of the British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers in the tower of the historic Sun Building in Vancouver, where as reported in an earlier post, the air has been rank with unpleasantness. Nine months or more have passed since the eruption of a “labour dispute” that has yet to be named or discussed before the membership, or even

Canada's peasant vision; why Maclean's gets away with making fun of George Bush

Know your critic, the saying goes, but it is hilarious to witness what passes for informed commentary about Canada. I have been watching the blogosphere for comments about the Maclean's cover showing George Bush as a clone of Saddam Hussein. I have learned several things:1. No one can spell MacClean's, McLean's, MacLean's.2. Most commenters had never heard about the magazine, despite its

Quote, unquote: Will work for severance

"The problem with the job, is that you are taking it for the severance package."-- bon mot from an anonymous source who tells Keith Kelly of the New York Post why Wenner Media's Men's Journal is having such a hard time getting somebody to take the $300,000 editor's job. One of the job requirements is dealing with Jann Wenner (founder of Rolling Stone, giant of journalism etc.).

Former magazine editor lets it out: he thinks blogging is better than print

Rick Spence, a consultant and blogger who I'll always think of as a magazine guy (editor and publisher of Profit and later editor of U of T magazine and still columnizes in print) runs a blog called Canadian Entrepreneur. I just caught up with a post in which he says that blogging is better than print and giving 12 reasons why.I figure that the difference between blogging and print (or TV, radio,

Magazines are key influencers in online purchasing, study says

Magazines are leaders in influencing online purchasing, according to a study reported recently in the U.K. The study, released by the Periodical Publishers Association during Magazine Week in the UK involved interviews with 3,045 adults aged 16-64, with the fieldwork done throughout August by the research firm BMRB. The survey found that 70 per cent of online searches were prompted by offline

Canadian Living beefs up its website

Transcontinental Media has this week beefed up its CanadianLiving.com and has positioned it as a "relaunch", though the site has been pretty robust and present for some time. One of the criticisms had been that the old CL site was slow to be updated and was light on reader interraction.Now, it has a couple of new blogs (Canadian Living's Online Food Editor, Christine Picheca does a blog called

Naomi Klein gets her ego stroked at the NYPL

Seizing on the admittedly flimsy excuse of Naomi Klein having, at one time, been the editor of This Magazine, we present Gawker's account of Klein at the New York Public Library on Monday night, promoting her new book The Shock Doctrine, in front of a sympathetic crowd.How could anyone even vaguely familiar with Naomi's credentials or latest book's thesis not know that last night's event would be

Masthead offers a $10 discount for its 20th anniversary

Masthead magazine, the industry's trade publication, is offering its print subscription free for a limited time to mark its 20th anniversary. If you buy a Mastheadonline subscription for the regular price of $49.95, the offer says, you receive the 6-times-a-year magazine free. Normal pricing is $59.95 for the combination of print and online, so the offer effectively means a $10 discount. For more

PWAC looking to boost its membership

The Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) is on a recruiting drive. Vice-president Tanya Gulliver has sent a message to a Toronto freelancer's list making the pitch.PWAC is growing and changing. Prior to our renewal we had over 600 professional, associate and student members. We changed our name a couple years ago from "Periodical" to "Professional", and combined the work of our great

Saddam/Bush Maclean's cover continues to cause flurry south of the border

Right- and left-wing bloggers and some mainstream media outlets have swung their gaze north because Maclean's played dressup with George Bush and made him look like Saddam Hussein. The current cover story by Patrick Graham continues to cause talk, which was undoubtedly what was intended. In a story on CBC.ca, Rogers Media spokesman Suneel Khanna said blandly that there haven't been any complaints

Advertising people, feh, say most Americans

Americans take a dim view of the advertising profession. Stop the presses.According to a study of public perceptions done by the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson on behalf of AdWeek.com, as reported in DM News, only 14 percent of those surveyed say their fellow Americans respect ad people. The top three most respected are military personnel (79 percent), physicians (75 percent) and teachers

At last, a magazine for needy self-made millionaires

Vancouver must have arrived, since Millionaire Blueprints, a magazine for the almost insufferably affluent, is distributing 20,000 copies in selected neighbourhoods on the left coast. The magazine, published by an Arlington, Texas company, is distributed in the choicest neighbourhoods in about 20 major markets, according to a story in Media in Canada. In Vancouver this apparently means Yaletown,

The Hollywood Canadian clout index

Canadian Business magazine loves lists and publishes them regularly. Its annual Rich List, for instance, is followed with avidity by people who care how much money other people have (we suspect a majority).This week, the magazine publishes its 3rd annual ranking of Canadian celebrities in Hollywood, most of whom rarely set foot in this country, mind you. The top 5 of the list of 15 available in

So THAT'S what happened to my copy!

Neil Morton, the editor at 2: The Magazine for Couples, shares with his readers in the magazine's fall issue the following e-mail he received from a star-struck letter carrier. It may be confirmation of your suspicions when a magazine sub arrives a little late or a little dog-eared:hi!i have been forgetting to write to you folks and tell you how stoked i am to see your magazine arrive in the mail

An attack of Laphamism

One person's backscratching is another person's homage, I suppose. Whatever, the editor of The Walrus, Ken Alexander, writes in the magazine's October 2007 issue a column about the forthcoming publication of Lapham's Quarterly. This is the retirement project of longtime Harper's magazine editor Lewis Lapham.In praising its prospectus Alexander, consciously or unconsciously, takes on Lapham's

Folio: editor says joining print to online makes both better

Tony Silber, the editor of Folio: magazine, has posted some interesting reflections about the magazine industry's obsession with online media.Even in my market, where we cover the magazine industry, the growth of advertising online is so significant that it will rival the size of the monthly print magazine in the not-too-distant-future.That obsession, then, is not all that surprising. In fact, I

Foreign publishers get a free ride in Ontario blue box levy

A few years back the Ontario government started taxing magazines over a certain size to offset 50% of their contribution to the costs of the Blue Box recycling program. The Waste Diversion Act (2002) levied a per-kilogram charge on magazines, catalogues, phone books and other printed matter.Stewardship Ontario, as the government euphemistically dubbed the program, required publishers resident in

Three Redwood titles nominated for Ozzies

Redwood Custom Communications has had three of its customer magazine titles nominated for the Folio:Ozzie Awards; winners will be announced September 23 at a gala event on the eve of the annual New York Folio: show. The three nominations (out of 3,000 entries) are forFamily Outlook, Spring 2007, Best Design New Magazine, Custom publication and Best Redesign, Custom publicationFood & Family,

Little magazines we like: Nova Scotia Policy Review

A stylish, almost retro, new quarterly magazine is being published in Bridgetown, a small town in the midst of the beautiful Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Policy Review eschews advertising and comes in an unusual format, 10" wide by 8" deep, beautifully typeset in Caslon in a careful, restrained design. Clearly somebody who loves type lives here and we suspect it is Rachel